• A pattern language applied to a suburban strip

    A report on a workshop in Charlotte shows how Christopher Alexander’s pattern language can be expanded to improve communities.
    A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander is one of the best-selling architectural books of all time, inspiring many urbanists with ideas related to community design. Yet its land-use influence is limited by the difficulty of translating the ideas into comprehensive plans and zoning codes. Also,...Read more

  • Urban renewal could turn a dead mall into a downtown

    State infrastructure funding and an urban renewal designation are overcoming the challenges of a failed mall transformation in Western New York.
    Converting a growing number of dead malls to mixed-use centers is challenging, especially in slow-moving real estate markets like the Buffalo region. Yet the Boulevard Mall in Amherst, New York, is poised to begin the transformation, due to funding and policy decisions at the local and state level...Read more

  • A model for mall reuse in Portland

    It’s no secret that large numbers of US malls are in deep trouble, having lost anchor tenants, and many of them are in foreclosure. In his 10 th Anniversary edition of Walkable City , Jeff Speck reports that “Fully a quarter of US malls aren’t expected to hang on through 2025.” Some high-volume...Read more

  • Walkable downtown created from a suburban office complex

    Doral, known for a golf course and sprawl, has partnered with a developer to create a walkable downtown on the site of a former nondescript office park, reusing existing infrastructure.
    When incorporated 20 years ago, Doral, Florida, consisted of a collection of gated subdivisions, shopping centers, warehouse and industrial districts, a world-renowned golf course, and notoriously clogged arterial roads, according to DPZ CoDesign. There was no downtown or walkable neighborhood of...Read more